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Paddling abolished in Santa Rosa schools

Jamie Secola, News Journal correspondent 5:13 a.m. CDT June 30, 2014

The Santa Rosa County School Board votes to remove corporal punishment from its Student Code of Conduct.

The Santa Rosa County School Board on Thursday night voted 5-0 to remove corporal punishment from the Student Code of Conduct in order to protect school employees from being accused of child abuse, Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick said.
(Photo:
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The Santa Rosa County School Board on Thursday night voted 5-0 to remove corporal punishment from the Student Code of Conduct in order to protect school employees from being accused of child abuse, Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick said.

Last school year, three employees were accused by parents of mistreating students after administering corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure, Wyrosdick said. In one instance, a parent was in the room when corporal punishment was given to the student.

"Last year, a school called a parent and wanted to know if corporal punishment would be appropriate," Wyrosdick said. "The parents came to the school, and corporal punishment was administered with the parent present. The next day, the Department of Children and Families showed up at the school."

Wyrosdick said the instances of parents reporting school employees to DCF has escalated during the past three years.

"It can be very difficult for employees to handle," he said. "It's tumultuous when you're even accused of harming a child. And these (educators) are passionate people. They're educators by choice, and it's not in their intention to harm a child.

"It seems like (corporal punishment) is something that parents use to move their own agenda forward. So we thought it best to remove the policy in order to protect our employees."

The school district already had suspended the use of corporal punishment last spring.

James McNulty, who has founded an organization to fight corporal punishment in Florida's public schools, said he spoke with Wyrosdick during the school year, presenting numbers from the Florida Department of education, encouraging him to end the practice.

McNulty's concern, though, wasn't for the educators. It was for the students.

"A lot of people didn't know that 17- and 18-year-old girls were getting hit with a board four times — and boys as well, McNulty said.

"I'm very happy," he said of the end to the corporal punishment policy. "This is a small victory."

According to the Florida Department of Education, more than 400 corporal punishment incidents were recorded in Santa Rosa County since the 2011-12 school year. But that number should drop to zero for the 2014-15 school year.

According to the Santa Rosa County School District's 2013-14 Code of Conduct, corporal punishment is defined as the "moderate use of physical force or physical contact by a Principal or Assistant Principal" in the presence of a teacher and is a "viable alternative in maintaining discipline."

The Escambia County School District does not use corporal punishment.

McNulty said he now is working to end the practice in other school districts in the state, including Walton and Suwannee counties in the Panhandle. McNulty said he, as a taxpayer, would prefer to see schools focus on educating students.

"I pay tax dollars, and I don't like paying tax dollars to public schools to have someone else hit someone's child," he said. "It's not the function of our public schools. They're not correctional institutions."